Late-game changes a bad look for OKC

Their spacing, as usual, was perfect. Kevin Durant had room to do his work, and Russell Westbrook had room to do his, and their connection was undeniable even though they never spoke a word.

When absurdity becomes the expectation, as it has for Oklahoma City’s two best players throughout this NBA postseason, anything less is a disappointment. So as Westbrook donned a shiny belt and a pair of bright green sneakers and Durant, 5 feet away, pulled on neon-yellow high-tops over pink-and-purple striped socks and under periwinkle slacks, it marked a silent stand against stagnation.

As the Thunder had learned just a few minutes earlier Sunday night at the AT&T Center, standing still for even a few seconds can ruin everything. Even though they’d controlled Game 1 of the Western Conference finals for most of the evening, they were done in by one costly bout of blandness, and the Spurs made them pay for it in a 101-98 victory.

“We got in a funk” Thunder forward Nick Collison said of the five minutes near the beginning of the fourth quarter that changed the game, and perhaps the series.

And that, for the perpetually moving Thunder, was the equivalent of Durant and Westbrook switching their postgame attire to gray sweatpants. After taking a nine-point lead into the fourth quarter based in large part on running the floor, swinging the ball around and attacking the basket, they let up just long enough for the Spurs to take advantage.

From the 11:19 mark, when James Harden hit an open jumper, to Manu Ginobili’s driving layup with 6:20 remaining, the Spurs outscored the Thunder 13-1 while Oklahoma City lost all semblance of the personality it had spent most of the night establishing.

“We did a great job for 31/2 quarters,” Westbrook said. “And then it kind of got out of hand.”

Part of what got it to that point was the fact that early in the fourth, the Thunder went away from Durant, who finished with 27 points but didn’t have any in the first seven minutes of the fourth.

Durant was hounded hard by the Spurs’ Stephen Jackson, who clearly lacked Durant’s foot speed but made him work hard to get open. By the time the Thunder finally found a way to get Durant the ball, their offense had devolved into a slowed-down, uninspired mess of slow-to-develop isolation plays, and they were never able to re-establish any momentum.

Durant, like the other Thunder players, said the late struggles were more about his own failures than anything special thrown at him by Jackson.

“Everybody since I’ve been in the league has been trying to go physical with me, bump me and push me, but I like it,” Durant said. “I’m a skinny guy, but I like it.”